The , also known as the Ministry of War, was the cabinet-level ministry in the

Empire of Japan The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II 1947 constitution and subsequent fo ...

charged with the administrative affairs of the

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...

(IJA). It existed from 1872 to 1945.

History

The Army Ministry was created in April 1872, along with the Navy Ministry, to replace the of the early

Meiji government The was the government that was formed by politicians of the Satsuma Domain and Chōshū Domain in the 1860s. The Meiji government was the early government of the Empire of Japan. Politicians of the Meiji government were known as the Meiji o ...

. Initially, the Army Ministry was in charge of both administration and operational command of the Imperial Japanese Army. However, with the creation of the

Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office The , also called the Army General Staff, was one of the two principal agencies charged with overseeing the Imperial Japanese Army. Role The was created in April 1872, along with the Navy Ministry, to replace the Ministry of Military Affairs ...

in December 1878, it was left with only administrative functions. Its primary role was to secure the army budget, weapons procurement, personnel, relations with the

National Diet The is the national legislature of Japan. It is composed of a lower house, called the House of Representatives (Japan), House of Representatives (, ''Shūgiin''), and an upper house, the House of Councillors (Japan), House of Councillors (, ...

and the

Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

and broad matters of military policy. The post of Army Minister was politically powerful. Although a member of the Cabinet after the establishment of the cabinet system of government in 1885, the Army Minister was answerable directly to the

Emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

(the commander-in-chief of all Japanese armed forces under the

Meiji Constitution The Constitution of the Empire of Japan (Kyūjitai: ; Shinjitai: , ), known informally as the Meiji Constitution (, ''Meiji Kenpō''), was the constitution of the Empire of Japan which was proclaimed on February 11, 1889, and remained in for ...

) and not the

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

. From the time of its creation, the post of Army Minister was usually filled by an active-duty general in the Imperial Japanese Army. This practice was made into law under the in 1900 by Prime Minister

Yamagata Aritomo ''Gensui (Imperial Japanese Army), Gensui'' Prince , also known as Prince Yamagata Kyōsuke, was a senior-ranking Japanese people, Japanese military commander, twice-elected Prime Minister of Japan, and a leading member of the ''genrō'', an � ...

to curb the influence of

political parties A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or pol ...

into military affairs. Abolished in 1913 under the administration of

Yamamoto Gonnohyōe , was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy and twice Prime Minister of Japan from 1913 to 1914 and again from 1923 to 1924. Biography Early life Yamamoto was born in Kagoshima in Satsuma Province (now Kagoshima Prefecture) as the sixth son ...

, the law was revived again in 1936 at the insistence of the Army General Staff by Prime Minister

Hirota Kōki Hirota may refer to: *Hirota (surname) *Hirota, Ehime, a former village located in Iyo District, Ehime, Japan *Hirota Station, a train station in Aizuwakamatsu, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan *Hirota Shrine {{Disambiguation ...

. At the same time, the Imperial Japanese Army prohibited its generals from accepting political offices except by permission from

Imperial General Headquarters The was part of the Supreme War Council and was established in 1893 to coordinate efforts between the Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy during wartime. In terms of function, it was approximately equivalent to the United States ...

. Taken together, these arrangements gave the Imperial Japanese Army an effective, legal right to nominate (or refuse to nominate) the Army Minister. The ability of the Imperial Japanese Army to refuse to nominate an Army Minister gave it effective veto power over the formation (or continuation) of any civilian administration, and was a key factor in the erosion of

representative democracy Representative democracy, also known as indirect democracy, is a type of democracy where elected people represent a group of people, in contrast to direct democracy. Nearly all modern Western-style democracies function as some type of represen ...

and the rise of

Japanese militarism refers to the ideology in the Empire of Japan which advocates the belief that militarism should dominate the political and social life of the nation, and the belief that the strength of the military is equal to the strength of a nation. Histo ...

. After 1937, both the Army Minister and the Chief of the Army General Staff were members of the

. With the

surrender Surrender may refer to: * Surrender (law), the early relinquishment of a tenancy * Surrender (military), the relinquishment of territory, combatants, facilities, or armaments to another power Film and television * ''Surrender'' (1927 film), an ...

of the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the Army Ministry was abolished together with the Imperial Japanese Army by the Allied occupation authorities in November 1945 and was not revived in the post-war

Constitution of Japan The Constitution of Japan (Shinjitai: , Kyūjitai: , Hepburn: ) is the constitution of Japan and the supreme law in the state. Written primarily by American civilian officials working under the Allied occupation of Japan, the constitution r ...

Organization

* Under-Secretary of the Army (Vice Minister) ** Military Affairs Bureau ** Personnel Bureau ** Weapons Bureau ** Army Service Bureau ** Administration Bureau ** Intendance (Accounts and Supply) ** Medical ** Judicial Bureau ** Economic Mobilization Bureau ** Aeronautical Department ** Economic Mobilization (abolished in April 1945) The Army Ministry and

were located in Ichigaya Heights, which is now part of

Shinjuku is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. It is a major commercial and administrative centre, housing the northern half of the busiest railway station in the world (Shinjuku Station) and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, the administration ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

Ministers of the Army of Japan

References

* * * "Foreign Office Files for Japan and the Far East"
Adam Matthew Publications
Retrieved 2 March 2005. {{Authority control Imperial Japanese Army

War War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

Politics of the Empire of Japan 1872 establishments in Japan 1945 disestablishments in Japan

History

Organization

Ministers of the Army of Japan

See also

References